New Delhi: E-tickets bought through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will get costlier as the Indian Railways has decided to restore service charges from September 1. The railways had withdrawn service charge for tickets booked online after demonetisation to promote digital payments.
The IRCTC will levy a service charge of Rs 15 per ticket for non-AC classes and Rs 30 for AC classes, including first class, according to the August 30 order issued by IRCTC.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately.
IRCTC used to levy a service charge of Rs 20 on every non-AC e-ticket and Rs 40 for every AC ticket before it was withdrawn.
The Finance Ministry had contended that the scheme of waiving of service charges was a temporary one and that the railway ministry could begin charging e-tickets.
Officials say that after service charges were discontinued, IRCTC saw a 26 per cent drop in Internet ticketing revenue in financial year 2016-17.
Earlier this month, the Railway Board had given its approval to the IRCTC to restore the mechanism of charging service charge from passengers booking online tickets.
In a letter dated August 30, the Board had said the IRCTC, railways ticketing and tourism arm, had made a "detailed case" for the restoration of service charge on booking of e-ticket and the matter has been examined by the "competent authority".
(With inputs from PTI)
